Review & Disclosure Policies

This page details my policies in regards to product reviews & the types of disclosures that appear.

For Brands

I am open to reviewing nail polish or beauty related products on this blog. I am also open to sponsored content that falls in line with my blog’s content- contact me for details.

Receipt of a product does notguarantee a favorable review. I always give my honest opinion of the product on my blog– I do make an effort to be tactful about it but I will not mislead my readers. Receipt of an unsolicited product also does not guarantee a review will be given at all- please contact me prior to sending, even if we have worked together before.

Use of photos

If a product is provided for review, I also allow you to use the watermarked photos in your store or website if you wish to do so as long as you provide a link back to this blog.

Turnaround Time

My turaround time is typically no more than 2 weeks after receipt of product. This is subject to change as I go through periods where I am busier and have a longer turnaround time- please ask me when contacting me if you need the post up by a certain date, this way we can make sure it works out with both of our schedules. If you need something more time-sensitive than 2 weeks, we can try to work that out depending on my schedule at the time. Either way, I do request that a tracking number be emailed to me when available so that I can optimize my turnaround time and get your post up as quickly as possible.

If we agree to a date that the product will be sent by and you do not ship it until after that date, the turnaround time that I quoted you will no longer apply as the quoted turnaround is based upon what else I have coming in around the same time as well as what I have going on in my life at that time (vacations or things that may take me away from my computer and camera equipment, etc.). Please contact me if you need to make changes so that we can both be on the same page.

Contacting & other specifics

You can contact me at themercurialmagpie@gmail.com or through my contact form with any questions or for more information. I am happy to provide specific blog statistics as well upon request. If you‘re a new indie brand, feel free to check out this post I wrote about working with bloggers!

Curious what makes my blog worth working with? Don’t trust me, check out what my readers had to say here, here and here! (P.S. They are the best.)

Note: I no longer accept mini or sample size nail polish or cosmetics for review. There are a few reasons for this, primarily that mini bottles make application of the product more difficult (particularly for glitter polishes) and your product may be unfairly given a negative review when it’s the bottle size that’s causing the application problem rather than the formula. Full sized products also allow me to take the best photos- being able to hold your product in the photo and showcase your label along with bottle shot macros if applicable (varies, usually taken of glitter polishes). For bath products, sampler-type boxes are perfectly okay as long as the same box is also sold in your shop for customers.

For My Readers

Disclosure is important. You will see the following buttons on review & swatch posts (but not usually nail art posts as I am not reviewing the product in those posts):

Press Sample – I received this item for free or at a discounted rate in exchange for an honest review. Receiving a product for free never ininfluences my review of the product. You may see this one in combination with the Purchased Myself button- if so, I will detail in the entry what I received for free vs. what I purchased.

Gift– I received this as a gift.

Purchased Myself– I purchased this item in full with my own money.

Giveaway Prize– I won this item in a giveaway or contest.

Sponsored Post– I was compensated financially to write this post & the opinions included may or may not be my own depending on the post type. Think more of an ad, less of a review. Sponsored posts help support the cost of running this site.

Affiliate Links– Purchasing through certain links in the post earn me a very small commission on the price of the product. Purchasing through affiliate links helps support the cost of running this site. Most Amazon links will be affiliate links.

Comment policy:

Please do not leave links in the comments on my entries, any such comments will have the links edited out prior to the comment being posted. If you have a blog you’d like me to check out, feel free to contact me privately, I’d love to see it! I welcome healthy debate but please do not attack any of the other people commenting on an entry. I reserve the right not to publish comments that are harassing or inflammatory.

Disclosure Policy (the legal fine print portion)

This policy is valid from 27 December 2013 to present.

This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. For questions about this blog, please contact themercurialmagpie@gmail.com.

This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation.

This blog abides by word of mouth marketing standards. We believe in honesty of relationship, opinion and identity. The compensation received may influence the advertising content, topics or posts made in this blog. That content, advertising space or post will be clearly identified as paid or sponsored content.

The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers’ own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.

This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.

Site and Content Use

All material on The Mercurial Magpie retains its full copyright. Use of material, either in full, part, or derivative form, without express permission is prohibited. All material, whether found directly on The Mercurial Magpie or taken from an RSS feed is licensed for personal use only. I protect my copyright and take violations seriously. Republication without express permission may result in billing for use of the material, formal notification of the violation to hosts and advertisers under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and other legal action as deemed necessary.